Take A Chance On Me
by DamonsGurl95
Summary: Written as a prequel to 'One Thing'. High School Musical from Taylor and Chad's point of view. If you want to read them in order it's Take A Chance On Me (HSM), One Thing (HSM2), Sparks Fly (HSM3), All In (Sequel)
1. Chapter 1

**Take A Chance On Me**

 **Chapter 1**

A/N: Prequel to 'One Thing'. High School Musical from Taylor and Chad's point of view. Based on the song of the same name by ABBA.

Taylor McKessie spent her New Year's Eve preparing for the Scholastic Decathlon much to the annoyance of her parents. They were very proud of their daughter they both just wished that she would socialise with their guests, they were throwing a New Years party. Hailey, Taylor's older sister, bragged to their guests about her sister and how smart she was.

Chad Danforth spent New Year's Eve with his parents, who were also throwing a party, and played two on two with his friends who were in attendance. Basketball was their life and they had a lot of practice to do to be ready for the high school basketball championship which was in a little over two weeks from that night. Chad's parents spent the night bragging about how proud they were of their son and his dedication to the sport.

The first day back at school a few days later, after the break, was an interesting one.

Taylor spent the morning before homeroom catching up with her decathlon team while Chad spent the morning before homeroom catching up with his best friend.

Chad was showing off his basketball skills to the cheerleaders while he waited for his best friend Troy Bolton to get off of the school bus which had just pulled up in front of the school.

Troy walked off of the bus and Chad put an arm around his shoulders instantly, "Troy, boy, how you doing man?"

"Hey Chad," Troy smiled, "hey guys, Happy New Year."

"Psh, yeah, it's gonna be a Happy Wildcat New Year man," Chad grinned as he raised his arms to emphasise his enthusiasm, "because in two weeks we're going to the championships with YOU leading us to infinity and beyond."

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted.

"WILDCATS!" Everyone around them responded.

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted again.

"WILDCATS!" Everyone around them responded again.

There were cheers all around them as the team entered the school.

Chad, Troy, Jason Cross, and Zeke Baylor fake shivered as the school 'IT' girl walked between them.

"The ice princess has returned from the North Pole," Zeke joked.

"You know she probably spent the holidays like she always does," Chad began.

"How's that?" Jason asked curiously.

"Shopping for mirrors," Chad finished.

"Oooh," came the response from Troy, Zeke, and Jason.

Everyone around them laughed as well.

"Ugh, behold the zoo animals heralding the new year," Taylor said to her friends as the jocks walked past them, Taylor had been pinning up a poster to promote the Scholastic Decathlon, "how tribal."

The school bell rang and Taylor waved her goodbyes to her friends as she made her own way to homeroom.

Taylor was happy to be back at school, it was where she felt the most comfortable. Her friends were a bit less excited to be back, only because they were nervous about the Decathlon. Taylor understood their concerns, they hadn't exactly been doing well in Decathlon's over the past few years. Taylor was still confident though, she had a feeling that this year would be different, this year Taylor felt confident that they would win.

In homeroom Taylor organised her papers and books for the day while trying not to get hit by the basketball that Chad, Zeke, Troy, and Jason were throwing around. Taylor wished that Ms Darbus would take the ball away from them and get homeroom started. There were bound to be plenty of announcements and Taylor wanted to make sure that she didn't miss anything important and would still make it to her first class in time.

Taylor was relieved when the final bell rang and Ms Darbus took control of the room.

Chad was annoyed when the final bell rang and Ms Darbus took control of the room.

Everyone took their seats and listened as Ms Darbus spoke.

"I trust you all had splendid holidays. Check the sign-up sheets in the lobby for new activities, Mr Bolton, especially our winter musical. We will have singles auditions for our supporting roles and pairs auditions for our two leads," Ms Darbus started.

Chad motioned his thumb in a 'thumbs down' position and blew out air in dissatisfaction at the idea.

"Mr Danforth this is a place of learning not a hockey arena," Ms Darbus said sternly as she stood near Chad's desk, "there is also a finals sign up for next week's Scholastic Decathlon competition. Chem club president Taylor McKessie can answer all of your questions about that."

Taylor raised her hand as Ms Darbus mentioned her to make sure that any interested party knew who she was. It wasn't like Taylor was very popular so she hadn't expected anyone to know who she is.

"Ah the cell phone menace has returned to our crucible of learning," Ms Darbus stated as someone's ringtone sounded throughout the room, "Sharpay, Ryan cell phones and I will see you in detention. We have zero tolerance for cell phones in class so we will get to know each other in detention, cell phone, and welcome to East High Miss Montez. Mr Bolton I see your phone is involved so we will see you in detention as well."

Chad raised his hand and began speaking quickly in defense of his best friend, "uh that's not even a possibility Ms Darbus your honour. See cause we have basketball practice and Troy…."

"Ah that will be fifteen minutes for you too Mr Danforth, count 'em," Ms Darbus snapped.

Taylor turned to her friends with a smirk, "that could be tough for Chad since he probably can't count that high."

Her friends grinned in appreciation.

Ms Darbus however was unimpressed, "Taylor McKessie. Fifteen minutes."

Taylor gasped in shock, that was not what she had expected.

Chad turned around to see her reaction and noticed that she was actually kinda cute when she was surprised.

Taylor was too busy thinking about the consequences of her making fun of Chad that she didn't notice him staring at her.

"Shall the carnage continue?" Ms Darbus said sharply as she slammed the tin of cell phones onto Troy's desk, "holidays are over people, way over. Now any more comments? Questions?"

Jason raised his hand behind Taylor.

"Jason," Ms Darbus sighed.

"So, how were your holidays Ms Darbus?" Jason asked kindly.

Everyone in the room sighed in annoyance and turned to look at Jason.

"What?" Jason asked innocently.

Taylor was relieved when the bell rang for first period, at least there she couldn't get herself in more trouble. Taylor enjoyed her maths and science classes, there were no jocks around to torment.

First period was calculus, Taylor was looking forward to it knowing that she would get to work on the preparations for the Scholastic Decathlon next week.

Taylor was focusing on her work and trying to ignore Sharpay's badgering of the new girl when she heard the new girl criticise the teachers work.

Taylor looked up to see that the new girl might have a point about the calculation being wrong. Taylor quickly grabbed her calculator to check the teacher's work.

Taylor smiled as an idea formed in head, if the new girl could pick that up maybe she would be exactly what the Scholastic Decathlon team needed to take out a win this year.

The rest of the day was uneventful until Taylor went to her locker at the end of the day, before detention.

A sheet of paper fell out of Taylor's locker as she opened the door, picking it up Taylor read what was on it and grinned. This was it, Gabriella Montez wanted to be on the Scholastic Decathlon team and Taylor didn't want to wait another second to tell her that she was on the team. After making sure that her bag and books were secure in her locker Taylor headed to the auditorium where Ms Darbus detention was held.

Chad and Troy were reluctantly helping the drama club with painting and decorating one of the trees that had been set out on the stage to be worked on when Taylor rushed onto the stage to talk to Gabriella.

Chad watched her for a while wondering what she was in such a hurry for. Surely she wasn't actually looking forward to detention, she would be the only person in the world who would look forward to detention if that's why she was in a hurry.

Chad watched Taylor talking excitedly to Gabriella and wondered what could have made her so happy. The girl looked depressed after homeroom and now as if by some miracle she was actually happy being in detention. Chad shook his head, it was stupid to think that he'd ever understand the female mind.

Chad sighed and grabbed his basketball before hiding in the tree, hoping that if Darbus couldn't see him he'd get away with not doing anything for the rest of detention.

Chad thought that he'd get away with it until he heard the auditorium doors slam open and then he heard the voice of Coach Bolton and he knew that he and Troy were done for. If there was anything worse than being on Ms Darbus bad side it was being on the coach's bad side. Chad tried to ignore the sound of coach yelling but he was pulled out from the tree by Troy much to his disappointment.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she watched Chad and Troy leave the auditorium. Of course those two would get out of detention. Everyone in the school knew that the only extra-curricular activity that Principal Matsui cares about is basketball. One word to him from the coach, Troy's Dad, would get the two lunkheads out of detention every single time.

Ms Darbus detention lasted an hour.

After that Taylor walked with Gabriella to the school carpark trying to convince her to join the Decathlon team even though she could tell that Gabriella wasn't really that interested. Taylor would do whatever it took though to make sure that her team would win for a change and Gabriella was the answer that they needed.

"We've never made it past the first round of the Scholastic Decathlon, you could be our answered prayer," Taylor said to Gabriella.

"I'm going to focus on my studies this semester and help my Mum get the new house organised. Maybe next year," Gabriella responded.

"But," Taylor tried to argue but Gabriella interrupted before she could speak.

"What do you know about Troy Bolton?" Gabriella asked desperate to change the subject.

Taylor sighed, what didn't she know would have been an easier question. They used to be friends but that was before basketball, it was also a story for another time.

"Troy?" Taylor asked, "hmm. I would consider myself an expert on that particular sub-species. However unless you speak cheerleader as in," Taylor walked over to the cheerleaders and raised her tone, "oh my gosh, isn't Troy Bolton just the hottie super-bum?"

Taylor and Gabriella quickly got out of the way of the now over-enthusiastic cheerleaders.

"See what I mean?" Taylor asked Gabriella with a big smile.

Gabriella smiled back, "I guess I don't know how to speak cheerleader."

"Which is why we exist in an alternative universe to Troy the basketball boy," Taylor said exasperatedly.

"Have you tried to get to know him?" Gabriella questioned.

"Watch how it works in the cafeteria tomorrow when you have lunch with us. Unless you'd rather sit with the cheerleaders and discuss the importance of firm nailbeds," Taylor said avoiding the question.

"My nailbeds are history," Gabriella said holding up her hands.

Taylor smiled and held up her own hands, "sister!"

They both laughed as they continued walking to the carpark.

Taylor's sister Hailey was waiting for her when they reached the parking lot, "do you want a lift?" Taylor asked Gabriella.

"It's okay I can take the bus," Gabriella offered.

Taylor shook her head, "no way am I letting you take the bus when my sister has a perfectly functioning car. Besides she owes me so she won't mind."

Gabriella smiled, "then I accept."

They walked over to Hailey's car and climbed in.

"Hailey this is Gabriella she's new to the school, Gabriella this is my sister Hailey," Taylor introduced once they had their seatbelts on.

"Nice to meet you, am I taking you to your own home?" Hailey asked.

"Yes please, nice meeting you too," Gabriella said.

Gabriella then told Hailey her address and Hailey programmed it into the GPS.

The car ride was filled with laughter as Taylor recalled the many ridiculous acts that the Evans twins and the basketballers had done throughout the day.

Hailey pulled the car to a stop outside Gabriella's house, "here we are."

"Thanks Hailey for driving me. Taylor thanks for rescuing me from the cheerleaders, I'll see you tomorrow," Gabriella said.

Taylor and Gabriella hugged before Gabriella exited the car and walked up to her front door.

Hailey waited for Gabriella to close the front door behind her before they left.

"So it was a good day then?" Hailey asked Taylor.

"Yeah it was," Taylor smiled, "the only bad thing is that Gabriella is kinda into Troy."

"Well that's not really a surprise is it? I mean other than yourself every girl in that school wants to be with Troy. You can't really expect the new girl to not notice his dreamy eyes," Hailey teased.

Taylor laughed, "yeah I suppose you're right."

Taylor hoped that the next day would go more smoothly than today, she definitely didn't have enough time to worry about detention again.

Chad spent the afternoon after basketball practice playing video games with his Dad and telling him about his day.

"Still haven't spoken to Taylor yet?" Chad's Dad asked.

"No and I have no plans to. We haven't been friends in years Dad," Chad said in annoyance.

Chad wished that he never mentioned Taylor when he recalled the events of the school day. It always ended in a conversation about Taylor.

"I'm just saying, if you spend so much time staring at her and wondering what she's thinking you might wanna be friends again," his Dad said.

"Dad, Taylor and I will never be friends again," Chad said firmly effectively ending the conversation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The second day back at school Taylor and Gabriella met up outside the entrance to the school.

"Hey," Gabriella smiled.

"Hey, how was your night?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella groaned, "quite boring. I spent the night unpacking my bedroom. I had no idea that I had so much stuff."

Taylor laughed, "did you think that it would all shrink in transport?"

Gabriella smiled in response, "no I just didn't realise that my new room would be smaller than the old one. Luckily it's only Mum and I so I could put some of my things in the spare room, Mum ended up having to do the same thing."

"Fair enough," Taylor smiled, "ready for your second day?"

"More ready than I was yesterday," Gabriella admitted with a smile.

The two girls walked to their lockers and met back at homeroom.

The team all walked in just before the bell rang, everyone took their seats and Ms Darbus took control of the room.

"Well. I expect we all learned our homeroom manners yesterday people correct? If not we have some dressing rooms that need painting," Ms Darbus spoke, "now a few announcements. This morning during free period will be your chance for the musical auditions both single and pairs. I will be in the theatre until noon for those of you bold enough to extend the wingspan of your creative spirit."

Taylor sighed, of all the homeroom teachers that they could have gotten why did it always have to be Ms Darbus the drama teacher. She would much rather have a teacher that understood the importance of education than the importance of drama. Her life had just the right amount of drama and Taylor really didn't want more.

Free period arrived after first period and Taylor spent the first ten minutes trying to get Gabriella to reconsider and join the Decathlon team.

"Tay I'd love to chat really but I need to go find my chemistry teacher," Gabriella said.

"Okay but don't forget to find me at lunch," Taylor said.

"I'll remember Tay," Gabriella smiled and walked away.

Taylor smiled slightly as she made her way to the library. She had kinda been hoping that Gabriella would have an excuse to get her to leave her alone about the Decathlon. Taylor loved spending free period, when she didn't have homework, reading romance and fantasy novels.

Chad spent free period working with the team, minus Troy, on their game. They needed to prepare for the championship game with or without Troy.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Taylor even found her favourite classes to be a drag, her mind was focussed entirely on the Decathlon and trying to work out how they could win. Chad had taken to sketching randomly on his notebook during classes, his mind also preoccupied except with the basketball championship.

That night Taylor spent talking with Hailey about Hailey's latest college crush.

Chad spent the night practicing his free throws.

The following day Taylor was ambushed at her locker by her Decathlon team who insisted that she look at the musical call-backs sheet that was pinned up in the lobby.

Reluctantly Taylor followed her friends and found the call-backs sheet. Taylor couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Gabriella and Troy's names listed as being called back for the pairs auditions.

Taylor spent the morning trying to figure out how and why such a thing would happen. Was this why Gabriella wanted to know about Troy? In all her time knowing Troy, Taylor had never known him to sing. None of this made sense to Taylor.

Chad spent the morning questioning Troy's motives and wondering if it was Gabriella's fault that he'd go and do something that was completely not him.

By the time lunch came around the entire school knew about Troy's audition and everyone had their own theories as to why Troy would do something out of character. No one really knew Gabriella being that it was only the third day back at school so no one questioned why she had auditioned, no one except for Taylor.

Taylor waited in the lunch line and watched as all around her people started admitting to things, things that weren't typically theirs. They were dancing and singing telling their secrets. Taylor didn't know what to think about it all and wondered where Gabriella was. This whole situation was only occurring because Gabriella and Troy had auditioned for that musical.

Taylor could see the anger reflecting in Sharpay's eyes and knew instantly that she needed to find Gabriella and keep her away from this mess.

Taylor spotted Gabriella and immediately went to her side.

"Why is everybody staring at you?" Gabriella asked Taylor.

Taylor looked around awkwardly, "not me, you."

"Because of the call-backs?" Gabriella asked in shock, Taylor gave her a look that said 'what else?', "I can't have people staring at me I really can't."

Gabriella gave Taylor a desperate look and Taylor sighed.

Gabriella began walking through the crowd, something that Taylor couldn't understand. If she didn't like people staring at her why did Gabriella insist on walking through the crowd, not to mention why would she audition for a musical if she didn't like people staring at her. Taylor quickly realised that there was clearly a lot that she didn't know about Gabriella.

As they walked around Taylor spotted a puddle of milk where Gabriella was about to put her foot not giving Taylor any time to rescue her friend from slipping.

Gabriella slipped and her lunch flew from the tray and towards Sharpay.

Taylor's eyes widened in horror, this was not going to end well.

The nachos fell onto Sharpay's top and Gabriella immediately tried to clean it off only to be screamed at by Sharpay again. Taylor quickly grabbed Gabriella's hands and dragged her away from unintentionally causing more harm.

Taylor and Gabriella found a table out of the way of the chaos that was the cafeteria and talked about what had just happened.

"Is Sharpay really, really mad at me?" Gabriella asked nervously, "I said that I was sorry."

"Look, no one has beaten Sharpay out for a musical since kindergarten," Taylor informed her.

"I wasn't trying to beat anyone out," Gabriella defended, "we didn't even audition we were just singing."

"You won't convince Sharpay of that. I'm telling you, if that girl could figure out a way to play both Romeo and Juliet her own brother would be out aced out of the job," Taylor told her.

"I told you it just happened, but I liked it. A lot," Gabriella admitted, "did you ever feel like there was this whole other person inside of you just looking for a way to come out?"

Taylor thought about it for a moment, "not really. No."

The bell to signal the end of lunch rang.

"Let's go," Taylor smiled.

Taylor and Gabriella headed their separate ways to different classes. Taylor had a Decathlon team meeting and Gabriella had a free period.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Thursday came around and Taylor spent every free moment trying to juggle her homework, the Decathlon team, and her new friendship with Gabriella. The last of which was turning out to be more of a hassle than she had expected. Gabriella was a great person but Taylor was worried that her obsession with Troy was distracting her from living up to her full potential. Then there was the musical audition, Taylor was more than happy to support her friend but she was also feeling selfish in wanting her to be apart of the Decathlon team not worrying about an audition. An audition that if Sharpay had her way wouldn't end with Gabriella and Troy playing the leads.

It was free period when Taylor and her friends were working on their preparation for the Decathlon and three uninvited boys entered their domain.

Taylor was standing on her own at the back of the room working on calculations when she looked up to see Chad, Jason, and Zeke walking over to her.

"Hey. Look we need to talk," Chad said to Taylor.

"Go," Taylor said.

"Troy and Gabriella can't do the audition. We need to work together to make sure they stick to their own things. For both of our sakes they need to focus on what they're good at," Chad explained.

"I agree but how do we make them forget about auditioning?" Taylor asked.

"We make Gabriella think that Troy doesn't care about it. If she sees him saying that it was a mistake and it's not something that he ever wanted to do. That it was a distraction then she'll give up on the idea and Troy will follow suit," Chad suggested.

Taylor looked unsure, "Do you really think that's gonna work?"

"It's the only way to save Troy and Gabriella from themselves," Chad said softly.

Taylor nodded knowing that Chad was probably right.

"So we're on?" Chad verified.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed.

"Good," Chad said smiling straight at Taylor, "so uh we start tomorrow then?"

"Okay," Taylor agreed, "first thing."

"Nice," Chad said impressed.

"Let's go," Chad said to Jason and Zeke after staring at Taylor a few moments longer.

Taylor smiled at her team as the boys left.

It was a brilliant plan. Taylor just hoped that it would go the way they wanted.

That night Taylor didn't sleep very well, she was stressing about their plan. It meant having to hurt Gabriella and Taylor didn't feel comfortable with that idea. She had waited so long to find a friend like Gabriella that the idea of hurting her made Taylor feel nauseous.

Chad on the other hand had a fantastic sleep with the knowledge that his best friend was going to be back to normal by the end of tomorrow.

The following morning Taylor and Chad met up outside the school, Chad trying to seem inconspicuous. Taylor understood being caught talking to the nerdy girl would be bad for his reputation but she also knew that she might have to thank Gabriella later for getting him to talk to her for the first time since they started high school.

"Okay, so my watch is 7:45 mountain standard time. Are we synced?" Chad said as he revealed the three watches that were sat across his arm.

"Whatever," Taylor said shaking her head at his ridiculous behaviour.

"Alright then we're a go for lunch period at exactly 12:05," Chad said as he looked around the grounds.

"Yes Chad we're a go," Taylor said and she waved her hand in front of Chad's face to get his attention, "but we're not Charlie's Angels. Okay?" Taylor said when she finally got his attention.

Chad looked at Taylor as she handed him a laptop, "I can dream, can't I?" He questioned.

Taylor just rolled her eyes and walked off to go to her locker before homeroom.

Chad did one last look around before heading in the opposite direction to find his friends and head to his locker before homeroom.

By the time lunch came around Taylor was a bundle of nerves knowing that they only had one chance to get this right and Chad was starting to feel slightly nervous himself about the whole situation also knowing what was at risk.

Chad motioned to the guys that Troy was coming, they'd just finished setting everything up.

"'Spider' Bill Netrine, class of '72, he was the MVP in the league championship game," Chad said to Troy as he entered the locker room, holding up a picture of said player.

"Sam Nedler, class of '02, also known as 'Sammy Slamma Jamma.' Captain, MVP of the league championship team," Zeke said also holding a picture of the guy he was talking about.

"The 'Thunder Clap,' Hap Hadden, '95, led the Wildcats to back-to-back city championships. A legend," Jason said, holding up a picture of the player.

"Yes, legends, one and all, but do you think that any of these Wildcat legends became legends by getting involved in musical auditions days before the league championships?" Chad questioned.

"Get your head in the game!" The team around them said.

"No. These Wildcat legends became legends because they never took their eye off the prize," Chad said.

"Get your head in the game!" The team repeated.

"Who was the first sophomore ever to make starting varsity?" Chad asked.

"Troy!" The team responded.

"Who voted him team captain this year?" Chad questioned.

"Us!" The team spoke.

"And who is gonna get their butts kicked in Friday's championship game if Troy's worried about an audition?" Chad finished.

"We are," the team responded in a slightly defeated tone.

"Guys, come on, there's 12 people on this team, not just me," Troy finally spoke.

"Just 12? Oh, no, I think you're forgetting about one very important 13th member of our squad," Chad interrupted.

"My dad," Troy sighed.

"Yes, Troy, Wildcat basketball champion, class of 1981, champion, father, and now coach. It's a winning tradition like no other," Chad explained.

While the guys were guilting Troy, Taylor and the Scholastic Decathlon team were talking to Gabriella about her own priorities.

"From lowly Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, to early warriors, medieval knights. All leading up to… lunkhead basketball man. Yes, our culture worshiped the aggressor throughout the ages and we end up with spoiled, overpaid bonehead athletes who contribute little to civilization other than slam dunks and touchdowns. That is the inevitable world of Troy Bolton," Taylor said as she indicated the posters that her team were holding up. "But the path of the mind, the path we're on, ours is the path that has brought us these people: Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, Sandra Day O'Connor, Madame Curie, Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey and so many others who the world reveres," Taylor said as she indicated the computer that was sat in front of Gabriella.

"Uh, but, what is...? I've got Kelsi waiting for me to rehearse," Gabriella said in uncertainty.

"Gabriella! Uh sorry. Troy Bolton represents one side of evolution, and our side, the side of education and accomplishment is the future of civilization! This is the side where you belong," Taylor sighed.

"Guys, if you don't know that I'll put a 110% of my guts into that game, then you don't know me," Troy said firmly.

"But we just thought…" Chad said.

"I'll tell you what I thought. I thought that you're my friends. Win together, lose together, teammates," Troy responded.

"But suddenly the girl... and the singing," Chad dug as the computer video linked up to the one in the science lab.

"Man, I'm for the team! I've always been for the team. She's just someone I met. All right the singing thing is nothing. A way to keep my nerves down. I don't know. It means nothing to me. You're my guys and this is our team. Gabriella is not important. I'll forget about her, forget the audition and we'll get that championship. Everyone happy now?" Troy asked in annoyance.

"Yeah man we just didn't want to lose you or your focus," Chad informed him.

"Well you haven't," Troy promised.

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted.

"WILDCATS!" The team responded.

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted again.

"WILDCATS!" The team responded again.

"WILDCATS?" Chad shouted.

"GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME!" The team responded.

The team all left the locker room and headed out to the front of the school where the cheerleaders and others were waiting for them. The cheering began for the whole team before being focussed in on Troy who everyone was happy to see hanging out with the team again.

Taylor felt like they had made the wrong choice as she left Gabriella in the science room. Hurting her friend was not what she had wanted to do. At the time when Chad had suggested it Taylor hadn't given it a second thought, she had thought that it was the best way to ensure Gabriella helped the Scholastic Decathlon team. Now she just felt like a horrible friend, Gabriella crying had not been a part of her plan or her intentions.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Taylor had hoped that things would be better come Monday but they weren't. It was just really awkward. Gabriella wouldn't look at her let alone talk to her and Taylor felt like the worst friend in the world.

Chad wasn't feeling much better himself. Troy barely acknowledged him all morning and completely ignored the rest of the team. He was starting to regret ever suggesting breaking Gabriella and Troy apart.

At lunch Troy refused to sit with the team and ignored Chad's invitation to sit with them. Gabriella reacted similarly when Taylor tried to get her to sit with the Decathlon team.

Knowing that they had to do something because this whole mess was their fault, Taylor and Chad looked across the cafeteria at one another and met in between their two tables to discuss how to fix their mistake.

"We have to fix this Chad, they're both miserable," Taylor said sadly as they sat on the wall by the stairs.

"I know but how? We can't exactly put them in the same room together. They just proved that they don't want to talk to one another," Chad sighed.

"We have to tell them the truth," Taylor said.

"What tell them that it's our fault they're miserable?" Chad asked in disbelief, "Troy said those words not us, we didn't tell him to say that stuff."

"We didn't but at the same time we did," Taylor said softly, "we knew that if you said the right things he would react the exact way that he did. It's our fault and they deserve to know that."

"I guess you're right. Are you prepared to lose Gabriella as a friend though if this doesn't work the way we want it to?" Chad asked.

"I'd rather her hate me and know the truth than be miserable and clueless. Are you prepared to lose Troy?" Taylor countered.

"Considering I might have already I'd say I'm prepared," Chad admitted.

"Good luck," Taylor said.

"You too," Chad responded with a small smile, "hey Tay," he quickly added before she could walk away completely.

"Yeah," Taylor said curiously.

"Even if this goes the opposite to how we want, I'm glad that it happened. I've missed having you to talk to," Chad admitted softly.

Taylor gave him a small smile, "I've missed you too. You know if this goes wrong we might have to start hanging out again."

Chad chuckled as he watched Taylor walk away.

Taylor went over to her friends and told them that they had to find Gabriella before the end of the day to tell her the truth, their plan, and to apologise for hurting her.

Chad went over to his own mates and told them a similar thing. Zeke immediately jumped at the opportunity to bake something to help Troy forgive them, his next class was cooking.

Both groups agreed to talk with their friends during their free period which was after their next class.

Chad, Zeke, and Jason made their way up to the rooftop garden to find Troy during free period.

"Hey," Chad said to Troy so as not to scare him with their sudden appearance and to start the conversation, "umm we just had another team meeting."

"Oh. Wonderful," Troy said, clearly irritated.

"We had team meeting about how we haven't been acting like a team," Chad hesitated, "I mean us not you. Look about the singing thing we…"

Troy interrupted, "what? Dude I don't even want to talk about it."

"We just want you to know that we're gonna be there ok, cheering for you," Chad informed him with a smiled.

"Huh?" Troy asked in disbelief as he looked in confusion at his friends.

"Yeah, if singing is something you want to do we should be boosting you up not tearing you down," Zeke input.

"Yeah, I mean win or lose we're teammates," Chad added, "that's what we're about. Even if you turn out to be the worst singer in the world."

"Which we don't know because we haven't actually heard you sing," Jason added.

"And you're not gonna hear me sing guys," Troy said in annoyance, "because Gabriella won't even talk to me and I don't know why."

Chad, Zeke, and Jason exchanged a guilty look.

"We do," Chad admitted quietly, hoping that at the last minute he would get away with not having to own up to their mistake.

"I baked these fresh today," Zeke said quickly before Troy could question them, he took out a package from his small esky, "you'll probably wanna try one before we tell you the rest."

Troy looked at them in confusion but still opened the package and ate like Zeke suggested although he had a feeling that it might not be a good idea. After a few bites he looked expectantly at his friends and heard Chad sigh uncertainly.

"We were worried that you weren't focussed on the game, you were spending every waking moment with Gabriella. I spoke with Taylor and we came up with a plan to live stream you talking negatively about the callbacks for Gabriella to see. We thought that maybe you'd both decide that you'd rather focus on what you're known to be good at and not want to try something new. I knew that if I phrased what I said a certain way then you would say exactly what we needed you to. We just weren't expecting you both to be so miserable," Chad admitted, "we didn't realise that you really cared for one another. We can't exactly be considered your friends for not realising the obvious. We also can't be considered your friends because we were selfish, we didn't want you to do the auditions because we thought that it would mean that you wouldn't be focussed on helping us, your teammates, out. We were wrong Troy."

"We're sorry man, we should have known," Zeke added.

"It's our fault everyone's miserable," Jason agreed.

Troy looked between the three of them not knowing how to react. On the one hand he wanted to knock them all out but on the other hand he understood why they had reacted the way that they did. He knew that it wasn't easy to accept someone you've known forever doing something that you've never known them to do.

"Look I'm annoyed but I'm not mad. I get why you did it I just wish that you hadn't cause now I have to figure out how to get Gabriella to forgive me. I really do care about her guys, I just hope that this hasn't ruined my chance," Troy stated truthfully.

"If anyone can get her to come around it's Taylor. She's basically giving Gabriella the same speech that we've just given you right now. If for whatever reason that doesn't work then we'll help you make it right again," Chad promised.

Troy laughed slightly, "yeah thanks but no thanks. I think you guys have caused enough damage. I'll handle it on my own."

Meanwhile Taylor and her team walked into the science lab and over to Gabriella.

"Gabriella we were jerks. No we were worse than that because we were mean jerks," Taylor started gently, "we thought that Troy and the whole singing thing was killing our chances of having you on the Scholastic Decathlon team."

"I heard what he had to say I'm your the team now done," Gabriella said in annoyance.

"No. Not done," Taylor said, "we knew that Chad could get Troy to say things to make you wanna forget about the callbacks. We planned it and we're embarrassed and sorry."

"No one forced Troy to say anything," Gabriella said, "and you know what it's okay we should be preparing for the Decathlon now so it's time to move on."

Taylor couldn't believe how stubborn Gabriella was being and she refused to give up that easily knowing how much the callbacks and Troy obviously meant to Gabriella.

"No, it's not okay," Taylor said firmly, "the Decathlon is whatever but how you feel about us and even more Troy that's what really matters."

Gabriella just gave Taylor an icy look and went back to working on her equations.

Taylor sighed, what else could she say or do, "we tried," she said to the team.

They left Gabriella in the science lab with Taylor feeling worse than ever.

Taylor wasn't watching where she was walking when she left her friends to go to her locker and she walked straight into Chad.

Chad was grinning with his friends reunited on either side of him when he noticed Taylor walking towards them looking disappointed. He also noticed that she was unfocused and he had to put his arms out to catch her before she walked into him.

"Taylor? What's wrong?" Chad asked worriedly.

Taylor sighed, "Gabriella hates me. This entire thing was a mistake we should never have thought that it was a good idea."

Troy sighed, "look Taylor I'm not happy either but I'm sure Gabi will come around. Life's too short to be miserable. Besides you all had a fair reason to do what you did we were distracted when we should have been focussed on our teams."

"Well if you're planning to talk to her I wouldn't do it now. She's not exactly happy with you either. Your words really hurt her," Taylor admitted softly.

Chad put an arm around her shoulders in comfort, "if Troy can find a way to forgive us then Gabriella can find a way to forgive you."

"I hope you're right," Taylor sighed, "I'd better get to class."

Chad nodded and let her go. It was then that he realised that he never wanted to let her go. He knew that if this all went to plan he was going to ask Taylor out after the championship game.

That night Taylor received a text from Gabriella saying that she and Troy had made up and would be doing the callbacks. The text also said that she accepted Taylor's apology and that she would still join the Decathlon team as long as she could be captain for the competition. Taylor immediately told her that she could take whatever position on the team that she wanted and she also re-apologised to make sure that Gabriella understood just how sorry she was.

Chad received a text from Troy stating that he'd spoken to Gabriella and they'd worked everything out. Chad was relieved to know that their plan hadn't totally destroyed Troy and Gabriella.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent with Troy in basketball practice and Gabriella in Decathlon preparation every chance that they had between classes and every other moment (before school, after school, and during part of their lunch break) they spent rehearsing with Kelsi Neilson for their callback.

It amazed Taylor and Chad how much happier everyone was with the new arrangement and how much smoother the school day seemed to run for everyone in the process.

On Thursday morning Taylor and Gabriella met the basketball team out front of the school.

"Ready for the callback?" Gabriella asked Troy.

Troy looked around at their friends, "with everyone there to support us, definitely."

"Oh we'll be there, right Tay?" Chad asked.

Taylor smiled, "absolutely, wouldn't miss it for anything."

They were all smiling and laughing as they entered the school. Then Troy spotted the worried look on Kelsi's face as they entered the lobby and walked over to her.

Troy and Gabriella immediately looked at the callback sheet which Kelsi was intently staring daggers at.

"Callbacks the same time as the game?" Troy asked in shock.

"And the Scholastic Decathlon," Gabriella added in shock.

"Why would they do that?" Taylor questioned in confusion.

"I smell a rat named Darbus," Chad said in annoyance.

"Actually I think it's two rats, neither of them named Darbus," Kelsi spoke up quietly.

"Do you know something about this…. small person?" Chad asked.

Kelsi stepped closer to Gabriella and Troy before she spoke, "Ms Darbus might think that she's protecting the show but Ryan and Sharpay are pretty much only concerned with protecting themselves."

"Do you know what I'm gonna do to those two show dogs," Chad stated angrily.

"Nothing," Troy said quickly earning unsure looks from his and Gabriella's friends, "we're not gonna do anything to them. Except sing. Maybe. Alright now this is only going to happen if we all work together. Now who's in?"

Troy put his hand out in front of him, Gabriella put hers on top, followed by Kelsi, Chad, Taylor, Jason, and Zeke.

"You know I'm in," Chad said as he put his hand in the centre and took hold of Taylor's hand.

They had ten minutes until they had to be in homeroom, just enough time to think up a plan for the next day.

"Well I could use a program that I have on my laptop, it sends codes to other electronic devices and sends them into a meltdown. It would give you guys enough time to get out of the gym and to the auditorium," Taylor suggested.

They had spent the last eight minutes trying to come up with a plan and this was the best they had.

"That's perfect Tay but how will you get out of the Scholastic Decathlon?" Chad asked.

"I'll come up with something. There'll be five questions before we need to leave and I don't have to be apart of any of them so I'll have time to come up with a plan," Taylor smiled.

The bell rang for homeroom and they all headed there with smiles on their faces knowing that they were going to make this work.

Thursday night saw Taylor working out a plan to get the Scholastic Decathlon postponed for at least ten minutes, Zeke baking a cake at the request of Chad and Troy for Taylor and Gabriella, and Gabriella coming up with a long complicated equation to surprise the boys.

Friday morning came and although they had a plan Taylor, Chad, Gabriella, Troy, Zeke, Kelsi, and Jason were still worried that their plan might fall apart.

Chad and Troy met their teammates in the locker room, Troy had the plan for the team to wear letters that spelled out 'GO DRAMA CLUB!' to show their true support for the drama club and to show that Troy and Gabriella weren't messing around, they truly did want to be in the musical.

At the same time Taylor and Gabriella were writing up the equation, that Gabriella had come up with the previous night, on the moving whiteboard that was in the room. On the other side they put together a piece of artwork that represented the boys.

The warning bell rang and Taylor and Gabriella took their seats, the basketball team entered the room shortly after.

Chad quickly covered Taylor's eyes with his hands as Troy did the same for Gabriella.

Taylor and Gabriella grabbed each other's hands, the only thing that they could count on without seeing a thing was that they were both momentarily blind.

Zeke then walked in and placed his baked cake on the table in front of them.

Chad and Troy exchanged a grin before removing their hands from the girl's eyes.

Taylor and Gabriella gasped in amazement at the cake that had a giant 'pi' symbol on it.

"Oh my goodness," Taylor and Gabriella said at the same time to show their true amazement.

"What?" Taylor asked as she and Gabriella looked at the guys.

Jason pointed to Zeke so they knew he was the reason for the masterpiece in front of them.

"Thank you," Taylor and Gabriella smiled at Zeke as they stood up.

"We have something for you too," Taylor smiled, looking at Zeke but talking to the team.

"Yeah come look," Gabriella smiled.

The two girls led the guys over to the whiteboard.

"Ta da," Taylor and Gabriella grinned.

Chad and Troy exchanged an uncertain look. Zeke looked at Troy like he was crazy and Jason just stared at the equation, clearly trying to work out the equation.

"It's uh an equation," Troy said not knowing what else he would be able to say.

Gabriella and Taylor grinned deciding to put the guys out of their misery and Gabriella flipped the board over to reveal the artwork.

They all laughed and Taylor and Gabriella threw plush basketball's at the boys while they were looking at the artwork.

The guys tried to catch them but failed miserably as the girls continued to throw the basketballs at them.

Chad and Troy pushed past them with Zeke and Jason following.

Chad went over to Sharpay and Ryan to get them to follow him to the doorway, "wait here," Chad told them. Ms Darbus had arrived at the same time and stood with the twins to watch. Chad then got into his place and the team slowly revealed the letters on their shirts.

"From our team to yours," Chad said.

The team spoke their letters as they revealed them on their shirts.

"Well seems we Wildcats are in for an interesting afternoon," Ms Darbus said before walking into the homeroom room.

Everyone took their seats before the team walked back in.

"That was amazing," Taylor smiled.

"So sweet," Gabriella agreed, "Chad couldn't take his eyes off of you."

Taylor blushed a little, "really?"

"You like him," Gabriella accused.

Then the team entered the room and Taylor gave Gabriella a look that clearly said 'don't you dare say another word.'

The afternoon came pretty quickly for those who wished it would wait, the twins were the only ones looking forward to it still thinking that Troy and Gabriella wouldn't make it to the audition in time.

Taylor knew that her plan would work but she was also terrified that something might go wrong so she wasn't looking forward to the afternoon.

Gabriella was worrying about the questions that she knew may be asked during the Decathlon so she wasn't looking forward to the afternoon.

Chad and Troy on the other hand were looking forward to the afternoon, all they had to do was play their favourite game, they had nothing else to worry about, Taylor was taking care of everything else.

At 3:30 the Decathlon, Championship game, and the auditions began.

Taylor prepared the encryption codes for stalling the game and getting the Decathlon stalled as Gabriella answered the questions.

Taylor looked at the clock, "alright Wildcats, time for an orderly exit from the gym," and pressed the 'send code' button on her laptop screen.

Once the code was sent Taylor prepared the code for their own exit and Gabriella answered the next question.

After the question was answered Taylor sent the code for their own exit.

Taylor, Gabriella, Chad, and Troy along with the rest of the school headed to the auditorium to watch Gabriella and Troy perform their audition.

Taylor and her team sat two rows down and to the right of Chad and his team.

Taylor watched as Gabriella hesitated, she knew that her friend was nervous about being in front of a large group of people. She just hoped that Gabriella would be able to go through with it.

Then they started to sing and Taylor knew that Gabriella and Troy were meant for one another, their voices linked in perfect harmony.

As they reached the climax of the song the entire auditorium stood and clapped along to their song. It was a perfect moment.

Chad couldn't help but look over at Taylor throughout their song, he knew exactly what he was going to do after they won the Championship.

The audition was over and they all had to go back to their previous 'jobs'.

The Decathlon was over and Taylor and Gabriella were grinning from ear to ear they had won. The girls hurried to the gym wanting to know if the guys had won.

Gabriella ran over to Troy and Taylor looked around for Chad.

Without warning Chad caught Taylor around her waist and spun her into his arms, Taylor placed her hands on him to steady herself.

"So you're going with me to the after party right?" Chad asked.

Taylor smiled, "you mean like a date?"

"Well must be your lucky day," Chad grinned in response.

Taylor's eyes widened in excitement as she quickly ran over to Gabriella to tell her.

"Chad just asked me out," Taylor told her best friend.

Taylor and Gabriella squealed in excitement.

Taylor left Gabriella in order to tell her other teammates.

*After 'We're All In This Together'*

The after party was being held at Troy's house.

Taylor and Gabriella were standing outside the house.

"This is it, this marks my first date with Chad," Taylor said nervously, "why am I so nervous though? It's not like it's a real date. It's a party. There are heaps of people here."

Gabriella smiled, "it's still your first date Tay. Of course you're going to be nervous."

Taylor smiled softly, "you're right. Let's go."

Gabriella smiled and took Taylor's arm, "this is our first party right?"

Taylor nodded, "yep. Who would have thought that the school nerds would be going out with the hotshot jocks."

Gabriella grinned, "nerds are coming up in the world Tay."

Taylor laughed as they walked through the open front door of the house to the backyard where the party was.

Chad and Troy spotted them coming and their smiles widened.

Chad took hold of Taylor's hand and led her over to the swingset.

"You look beautiful tonight," Chad said as they sat on the swings.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself," Taylor smiled.

And that was the start of everything.


End file.
